Intellectual terrorism can prove to be a massive deterrent weapon capable of annihilating critical thinking, of overcoming the intelligence necessary to understand the world around us. To be effective, this terrorism needs to be hammered in with the aim of becoming an almost conditioned reflex in order to end up as a mantra concerning a fact, a subject, more broadly History. From then on, any other story, interpretation, reflection becomes inaudible, even prohibited. The basis of intellectual terrorism is always an ideology, it is this which sets the frameworks within which we must think and express ourselves.
The totalitarianism born with the 20th century, in its communist, fascist, Nazi forms (in order of entry on the scene), did not invent the process but it used and abused it. To achieve their ends, yesterday’s ideologies had recourse to megaphones responsible for imposing the doxa, first and foremost the activists of the cause, supported by elites (most often intellectuals) subjugated or terrorized depending on the case. , playing the role of sounding boards to spread the good word and denounce discordant voices. Without this support, these totalitarian ideologies would have had more difficulty imposing their discourse. Generally speaking, numerous speakers are essential to establish a balance of power, to create and maintain the desired terrorist climate.
The violence and force practiced by totalitarian regimes of the 20th century to impose their worldview are no longer necessary in today’s democracies. Social networks can serve as ideological vehicles by dictating behavior and ideas using algorithms that no one controls when they connect all those who share the same opinions, the same tastes, the same beliefs, and end up form what we call the “mainstream”.
Tetanizing effect
Intellectual terrorism uses more methods soft nowadays, oscillating between political correctness and unique thinking. Fashionable ideologies – wokism, cancel culture, Radical ecology, extremist feminism, LGBT+ diehards – can fall prey to this type of terrorism, but failing to gain the support of the greatest number they most often remain confined to the role of lobby. To prevail, intellectual terrorism must more than ever carry a consensual idea, shared by as many people as possible. In other words, he must convey an opinion, hold a speech, support positions which appeal to common sense, to habitus, to a cause considered just or even to what appeals to good conscience. Then, the stigmatization of “evil thinkers” becomes possible, which is the expected result.
Israel’s war in the Middle East offers a good example of the change in method. Compared to other conflicts taking place in the world at the same time, the Jewish State has in fact succeeded in imposing a discourse which allows it, in the eyes of part of the international community, to exonerate itself from the abuses committed. by his army on the ground. Let it be clear, so as not to misunderstand the point, that the offensive carried out by Israel against its near abroad, since the pogrom of October 7, 2023, is part of the right that every country has to defend itself. , especially when he is the victim of such a bloody attack. This inalienable right does not, however, exempt you from all duties. Therein lies the distinction: the military actions carried out over the past year by the far-right government of Benyamin Netanyahu go beyond the notion of duty, which the Israeli authorities know. Also, to justify themselves, they use a discourse that uses the codes of intellectual terrorism with the aim of disqualifying any story and opinion other than theirs.
Accusing of anti-Semitism anyone who denounces the war crimes committed by the IDF in the Gaza Strip, in the occupied territories and in Lebanon, is a form of intellectual terrorism. The disapproval which taints this racist accusation has been universal in scope since the genocide committed by the Nazis. Resorting to it has a paralyzing effect for those who find themselves accused of it. The word is used for this purpose by the Israeli authorities with the intention of discrediting any criticism and silencing those outraged by the tens of thousands of civilian victims of this conflict over the past year. Two truths clash, Israeli propaganda insists: terrorist crimes on one side, a legitimate war of self-defense on the other. In fact, the Israeli hostages who remain in the hands of Hamas face a multitude of Palestinian women and children, and now Lebanese, victims of Israeli bombs. Schools, refugee centers, hospitals, rescuers, journalists, UN peacekeepers are targets like any other for the Netanyahu government, in violation of the most basic rights of war. The destruction of terrorist landmarks is each time cited to justify this violence, but it is rare for Tel Aviv to provide irrefutable proof, due to a lack of good faith witnesses to accredit them: journalists, international civil servants, men of good will, all are prohibited in the theaters of this war.
Ring of Gyges
Seized by the hubris of the success that the pounding of bombings satisfies every day, the Netanyahu government accuses its detractors of anti-Semitism. In this way, the aim is to make the crimes committed invisible, especially to Western public opinion. Anti-Semitism in this case fulfills the role of the ring of Gyges, of which Plato speaks, with the magical power for its holder to substitute himself in the eyes of others, and thus to perpetrate his bad actions without fearing the scourge of justice. That the magistrates of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have still not ruled on the indictment against Hamas and Israel, filed more than five months ago by the prosecutor of the same ICC, proves that intimidation is effective. Better still, Israeli propaganda has succeeded in establishing an equivalence between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism, while one denounces a colonial expansion (condemned by the UN since the creation of the State of Israel in 1948), while the other is a racist abomination. The confusion purposely blurs the understanding of the conflict.
Anti-Semitism proves to be a process of intellectual terrorism all the more effective as it addresses the Western bad conscience inherited from the silence which accompanied the extermination of the Jews in Europe during the Second World War. This guilt disarms good Western consciences, although they are usually quick to denounce the crimes and injustices of this world. At the same time, the speed with which Putin’s expansionist policy in Ukraine was condemned offers a stark contrast to the permissiveness enjoyed by Israel in this war.
Backlash
Giving in to this intellectual terrorism is extremely damaging for the Jewish state, just as much as for Western democracies. The silence, the embarrassment of Europe in the face of the crimes committed in Gaza and Lebanon, the military aid provided by the United States to this policy, can only be condemned by the rest of the world, witness to two double standard indefensible morally speaking. The divide between the North and the South of the world, already well underway, is reinforced. As for anti-Semitism, a terrible ancestral evil, once curbed by awareness of the Shoah, it finds a new outlet since Israel believes itself to be above the laws common to the rest of the world.
Intellectual terrorism, however, remains an ephemeral weapon, the effect of which is worn away by its intensive use. We are seeing this now. Paralyzing at the start of this war, the impact of the accusatory process has diminished over the months, as Israeli policy has freed itself from the humanitarian barriers that have been erected since 1945 to make wars less bloody. The backlash risks being terrible for Israel’s already tarnished image, and, in the longer term, for its right to exist. Once the cannons have been stored, it is feared that the manner in which this conflict was conducted will be condemned by international authorities. A Jewish state convicted of war crimes, or even crimes against humanity, would be a catastrophic indictment for this country, and for the democracies that have blindly supported it. The humiliation would hit Jews around the world just as much, at least those who supported Netanyahu’s radicalism. If such a moral disaster were to occur, the Israeli extreme right would bear all the responsibility for this ostracism of humanity, unimaginable a few decades after Auschwitz.
* Journalist and specialist in communism, Thierry Wolton this year published The Return of Barbarian Times (Grasset).
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